Oil prices can hardly bounce back to $100 per barrel – Iranian minister

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said that oil prices can hardly bounce back to $100 per barrel.

He said that the oil producing countries need to increase the prices as much as the market allows, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Nov. 16.

The minister made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez.

"We are negotiating with other OPEC members," the Iranian minister said.

The falling trend of oil prices in the global markets has raised some concerns among oil-producing countries.

Iran has reportedly negotiated with at least five members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reach an agreement on the global management of oil prices, ahead of the organization's upcoming meeting.

Qatar, Kuwait, Venezuela, Iraq, and Ecuador are the mentioned five countries.

The 166th (ordinary) OPEC meeting is scheduled to be held on Nov.27 in Vienna.

OPEC has twelve member countries.

Iran has decided to sell its crude oil to Asia in November at the biggest discount in almost six years.

The decision was made after Saudi Arabia cut prices for all grades and to all regions for November. Qatar and Iraq decreased their prices.

Iran is expected to face a budget deficit in the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2015), due to the sharp fall in oil prices.

Iran's current year budget envisages the price of $100 per barrel of oil. This is while each Iranian oil barrel is currently sold at around $80.

Iran's Mehr news agency reported that this gap will result in $2.5 billion of budget deficit by the end of the year (March 20, 2015).

Based on Iran's budget law, the country is supposed to export 1.4 million barrels of oil (including gas condensate) per day.

Iran daily earns $18-20 million less than the projected figure.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has also predicted that Iran's total oil revenues will be 30 percent less than expected.

Masoud Mir Kazemi, the head of energy commission in Iran's parliament and former oil minister told Mehr on Oct.17 that according to the Oil Ministry's figures, Iran exported 0.1 mbpd less that the figure considered in the budget law, which will lead to budget deficit.

Iran's media said on Oct. 17 that the country's President Hassan Rouhani ordered the Oil Ministry to take measures to prevent falling of oil prices by using diplomatic leverages.